Weather in Cyprus in February

February as January is a very cold month for us locals. Expecting back the nice and warm summer makes days looking much longer and colder. For the happy tourist though things are moving in the right direction and the many nice and sunny days of February make the day for many holiday makers and businessmen visiting Cyprus alike. Spring is shyly showing its face through the 18 days of pure sunshine within the month of February. The winter though is still showing its teeth with February being one of the coldest months. There is no norm to the amount of rainy days as these vary dramatically from year to year, but someone would expect around 8 to 10 days of rainfall and drizzle within February.

During this month precipitation averages to around 76mm (again about 3 inches). Temperate dropping at night time to about 7°C 45°F and rises during the day to about 17°C 62°F. (Of course as mentioned for January these are average temperatures and vary between the towns and especially the mountain regions). On the mountains, the temperature is again dropping to as low as 0°C or even lower. Sometimes the snow appears in the plains and stays for long in the Troodos Mountains as far as March and even April. Frosts also appear on many occasions both inland and in the coastal areas especially during the early hours of the morning. This effect of the snow in the mountain rages together with strong northerly winds makes February seeming colder and chillier than the previous winter months especially during night time and late evening. Mountain temperatures are ranging from 7°C to sometimes well below 0°C. Hail always waits in the corner and threatens the hard work and labour of farmers as it usually harms all sorts of plantations, from apple trees to citrus and green vegetables. Frosts have their own share of damage to agriculture living small farmers complaining year after year.

Water temperature depending again on location (east, south, west) usually averages to about 18°C 64°F. Air Humidity is averaging 68% with up to 11 rainy days within the month.

The average daily wind speed in February has could be around 14 kph in the southern part of Cyprus, that’s the equivalent to around 9 mph (8 knots). Studies have shown that in recent years the maximum sustained wind speed has reached 63 kph, that’s the equivalent of around 39 mph, or 34 knots.

The hours of continuous sunshine are around 9 and the approximate time of sunset is17:30. Going into February, the length of the day is again steadily increasing. The shortest day of February is the first day of the month with more than 10 hours of sunlight; the longest day is January 31 with 10:18 hours of sunlight.

In February, the sea temperature is around 17°C, ( 63° F). Swimming is not advised for the casual tourist as the water temperate is considered relatively cool and though enjoyed by many "winter swimmers" as we are used to calling many fellow citizens that run for a swim in the early hours of the morning, for us more than a few minutes in the sea would leave us feeling trembling and shivering.